Announcing a domain name registration on a social website

ABSTRACT

Systems and methods of the present invention provide for posting a search engine result to a feed from a social networking website. The feed may include an announcement of a registered domain name and a link to an associated website. A control panel for the registered domain name and associated website may be displayed on a client.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED PATENT APPLICATIONS

This patent application is related to the following concurrently-filedpatent applications:

U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/561,408, “Social Website DomainRegistration Announcement and Search Engine Feed.”

The subject matter of all patent applications is commonly owned andassigned to Go Daddy Operating Company, LLC. All prior applications areincorporated herein in their entirety by reference.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present inventions generally relate to the field of socialnetworking websites and more specifically to publishing or posting anannouncement of a domain name on a social networking website.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

An example embodiment of a method for publishing an announcement of aregistered domain name and link to a hosted website on a socialnetworking website may include the steps of partnering with a socialnetworking website, displaying a control panel on a client to obtainpermission and set a delay period after which to publish theannouncement and link, publishing the announcement and link afterexpiration of the delay period, monitoring traffic generated by the linkand recommending a product to increase traffic to the hosted website,based on a metric to monitor the website traffic.

An example embodiment of a method for posting a search engine result toa feed from a social networking site regarding an announcement of aregistered domain name and link to a hosted website may include thesteps of partnering with a social networking website, displaying acontrol panel on a client to obtain permission and set a delay periodafter which to post the announcement and link, posting the announcementand link after expiration of the delay period, monitoring trafficgenerated by the link and recommending a product to increase traffic tothe hosted website, based on a metric to monitor the website traffic.

The features and advantages of the present invention will be betterunderstood from the following detailed description taken in conjunctionwith the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a flow diagram illustrating a possible embodiment of a methodfor publishing an announcement and link on a social networking website.

FIG. 2 illustrates a possible system in which an announcement and linkon a social networking website may be published or posted as a feed of asearch engine result.

FIG. 3 illustrates a possible embodiment of an interface including thepublished announcement and link on a social networking website.

FIG. 4 illustrates a possible embodiment of an interface including acontrol panel to publish the announcement and link on a socialnetworking website.

FIG. 5 is a flow diagram illustrating a possible embodiment of a methodfor posting an announcement and link as a search engine result on asocial networking website.

FIG. 6 illustrates a possible embodiment of an interface including theposted announcement and link as a search engine result on a socialnetworking website.

FIG. 7 illustrates a possible embodiment of an interface including acontrol panel to post the announcement and link as a search engineresult on a social networking website.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The present inventions will now be discussed in detail with regard tothe attached drawing figures that were briefly described above. In thefollowing description, numerous specific details are set forthillustrating the Applicant's best mode for practicing the invention andenabling one of ordinary skill in the art to make and use the invention.It will be obvious, however, to one skilled in the art that the presentinvention may be practiced without many of these specific details. Inother instances, well-known machines, structures, and method steps havenot been described in particular detail in order to avoid unnecessarilyobscuring the present invention. Unless otherwise indicated, like partsand method steps are referred to with like reference numerals.

A network is a collection of links and nodes (e.g., multiple computersand/or other devices connected together) arranged so that informationmay be passed from one part of the network to another over multiplelinks and through various nodes. Examples of networks include theInternet, the public switched telephone network, the global Telexnetwork, computer networks (e.g., an intranet, an extranet, a local-areanetwork, or a wide-area network), wired networks, and wireless networks.

The Internet is a worldwide network of computers and computer networksarranged to allow the easy and robust exchange of information betweencomputer users. Hundreds of millions of people around the world haveaccess to computers connected to the Internet via Internet ServiceProviders (ISPs). Content providers place multimedia information (e.g.,text, graphics, audio, video, animation, and other forms of data) atspecific locations on the Internet referred to as websites. Thecombination of all the websites and their corresponding web pages on theInternet is generally known as the World Wide Web (WWW) or simply theWeb.

A network is a collection of links and nodes (e.g., multiple computersand/or other devices connected together) arranged so that informationmay be passed from one part of the network to another over multiplelinks and through various nodes. Examples of networks include theInternet, the public switched telephone network, the global Telexnetwork, computer networks (e.g., an intranet, an extranet, a local-areanetwork, or a wide-area network), wired networks, and wireless networks.

The Internet is a worldwide network of computers and computer networksarranged to allow the easy and robust exchange of information betweencomputer users. Hundreds of millions of people around the world haveaccess to computers connected to the Internet via Internet ServiceProviders (ISPs). Content providers place multimedia information (e.g.,text, graphics, audio, video, animation, and other forms of data) atspecific locations on the Internet referred to as web pages. Websitescomprise a collection of connected, or otherwise related, web pages. Thecombination of all the websites and their corresponding web pages on theInternet is generally known as the World Wide Web (WWW) or simply theWeb.

For Internet users and businesses alike, the Internet continues to beincreasingly valuable. More people use the Web for everyday tasks, fromsocial networking, shopping, banking, and paying bills to consumingmedia and entertainment. E-commerce is growing, with businessesdelivering more services and content across the Internet, communicatingand collaborating online, and inventing new ways to connect with eachother.

Prevalent on the Web are multimedia websites, some of which may offerand sell goods and services to individuals and organizations. Websitesmay consist of a single webpage, but typically consist of multipleinterconnected and related web pages. Websites, unless extremely largeand complex or have unusual traffic demands, typically reside on asingle server and are prepared and maintained by a single individual orentity. Menus and links may be used to move between different web pageswithin the website or to move to a different website as is known in theart. The interconnectivity of web pages enabled by the Internet can makeit difficult for Internet users to tell where one website ends andanother begins.

Websites may be created using HyperText Markup Language (HTML) togenerate a standard set of tags that define how the web pages for thewebsite are to be displayed. Users of the Internet may access contentproviders' websites using software known as an Internet browser, such asMICROSOFT INTERNET EXPLORER or MOZILLA FIREFOX. After the browser haslocated the desired webpage, it requests and receives information fromthe webpage, typically in the form of an HTML document, and thendisplays the webpage content for the user. The user then may view otherweb pages at the same website or move to an entirely different websiteusing the browser.

Some Internet users, typically those that are larger and moresophisticated, may provide their own hardware, software, and connectionsto the Internet. But many Internet users either do not have theresources available or do not want to create and maintain theinfrastructure necessary to host their own websites. To assist suchindividuals (or entities), hosting companies exist that offer websitehosting services. These hosting providers typically provide thehardware, software, and electronic communication means necessary toconnect multiple websites to the Internet. A single hosting provider mayliterally host thousands of websites on one or more hosting servers.

Browsers are able to locate specific websites because each website,resource, and computer on the Internet has a unique Internet Protocol(IP) address. Presently, there are two standards for IP addresses. Theolder IP address standard, often called IP Version 4 (IPv4), is a 32-bitbinary number, which is typically shown in dotted decimal notation,where four 8-bit bytes are separated by a dot from each other (e.g.,64.202.167.32). The notation is used to improve human readability. Thenewer IP address standard, often called IP Version 6 (IPv6) or NextGeneration Internet Protocol (IPng), is a 128-bit binary number. Thestandard human readable notation for IPv6 addresses presents the addressas eight 16-bit hexadecimal words, each separated by a colon (e.g.,2EDC:BA98:0332:0000:CF8A:000C:2154:7313).

IP addresses, however, even in human readable notation, are difficultfor people to remember and use. A Uniform Resource Locator (URL) is mucheasier to remember and may be used to point to any computer, directory,or file on the Internet. A browser is able to access a website on theInternet through the use of a URL. The URL may include a HypertextTransfer Protocol (HTTP) request combined with the website's Internetaddress, also known as the website's domain name. An example of a URLwith a HTTP request and domain name is: http://www.companyname.com. Inthis example, the “http” identifies the URL as a HTTP request and the“companyname.com” is the domain name.

Domain names are much easier to remember and use than theircorresponding IP addresses. The Internet Corporation for Assigned Namesand Numbers (ICANN) approves some Generic Top-Level Domains (gTLD) anddelegates the responsibility to a particular organization (a “registry”)for maintaining an authoritative source for the registered domain nameswithin a TLD and their corresponding IP addresses. For certain TLDs(e.g., .biz, .info, .name, and .org) the registry is also theauthoritative source for contact information related to the domain nameand is referred to as a “thick” registry. For other TLDs (e.g., .com and.net) only the domain name, registrar identification, and name serverinformation is stored within the registry, and a registrar is theauthoritative source for the contact information related to the domainname. Such registries are referred to as “thin” registries. Most gTLDsare organized through a central domain name Shared Registration System(SRS) based on their TLD.

The process for registering a domain name with .com, .net, .org, andsome other TLDs allows an Internet user to use an ICANN-accreditedregistrar to register their domain name. For example, if an Internetuser, John Doe, wishes to register the domain name “mycompany.com,” JohnDoe may initially determine whether the desired domain name is availableby contacting a domain name registrar. The Internet user may make thiscontact using the registrar's webpage and typing the desired domain nameinto a field on the registrar's webpage created for this purpose. Uponreceiving the request from the Internet user, the registrar mayascertain whether “mycompany.com” has already been registered bychecking the SRS database associated with the TLD of the domain name.The results of the search then may be displayed on the webpage tothereby notify the Internet user of the availability of the domain name.If the domain name is available, the Internet user may proceed with theregistration process. If the domain name is not available forregistration, the Internet user may keep selecting alternative domainnames until an available domain name is found.

Social networking websites may comprise Internet-based social networkingservices that focus on building and verifying online social networks forcommunities of people who may share interests and activities, wish tocommunicate with each other efficiently, and may be interested inexploring the interests and activities of others, and which necessitatesthe use of software applications. Most social networking websites areInternet based and provide a collection of various ways for users tointeract, such as micro-blogging, blogging, chat, forums, instantmessaging, email, video, voice chat, file sharing, discussion groups,etc. The main types of social networking services are those that containdirectories of some categories (such as former classmates), means toconnect and communicate with friends, and/or recommendation systemslinked to trust. Popular social networking websites now combine many ofthese, with TWITTER, MYSPACE, FACEBOOK, YOUTUBE, LINKEDIN, and FLICKRbeing but a few examples.

Methods for Publishing an Announcement and Link on a Social Website

Several different methods may be used to provide and manage thedisclosed invention. In an example embodiment illustrated in FIG. 1, apartnership may be established with a social networking website topublish an announcement of a registered domain name and a link to ahosted website on the social networking website. (Step 100) The hostedwebsite may be associated with the registered domain name. A controlpanel may be displayed on a client (Step 110), which may include meansfor obtaining permission to publish the domain name announcement andlink and a delay period after which the announcement and link may bepublished. After the expiration of the delay period, the announcementand link may be published (Step 120). Traffic generated by theannouncement and/or link to the hosted website may be monitored (Step130) and a product may be recommended for increasing a metric whichmeasures traffic to the hosted website generated by the announcement andlink (Step 140).

FIG. 2 illustrates a non-limiting example of a system and/or structurethat may be used to accomplish the methods and embodiments disclosed anddescribed herein. Such methods may be performed by any centralprocessing unit (CPU) in any computing system, such as a microprocessorrunning on at least one server 210, and executing instructions stored(perhaps as scripts and/or software) in computer-readable mediaaccessible to the CPU, such as a hard disk drive on a server 210. Theserver(s) 210 may be communicatively coupled to a network 200 (such asthe Internet) and at least one client 220 that, collectively (along withthe software described herein), may allow a registrant to registerdomain names, request and/or view publication and/or posting ofannouncements of registered domain names and their associated hostedwebsites, manage their domain name or hosted website via a controlpanel, synchronize such a control panel to an API for a socialnetworking website and/or accomplish any other methods disclosed herein.

Such servers 210 could comprise any computer or program that providesservices to other computers, programs, or users either in the samecomputer or over a computer network 200. As non-limiting examples,servers may comprise application, communication, mail, database, proxy,fax, file, media, web, peer-to-peer, standalone, software, or hardwareservers (i.e., server computers) and may use any server format known inthe art or developed in the future (possibly a shared hosting server, avirtual dedicated hosting server, a dedicated hosting server, a cloudhosting solution, a grid hosting solution, or any combination thereof).Clients 220 that may be used to connect to the network 200 to use theillustrated embodiments may include a desktop computer, a laptopcomputer, a hand held computer, a terminal, a television, a televisionset top box, a cellular phone, a wireless phone, a wireless hand helddevice, an Internet access device, a rich client, thin client, or anyother client functional with a client/server computing architecture.

The example embodiments herein place no limitation on networkconfiguration or connectivity. Thus, as non-limiting examples, thenetwork 200 could comprise the Internet, the public switched telephonenetwork, the global Telex network, computer networks (e.g., an intranet,an extranet, a local-area network, or a wide-area network), wirednetworks, wireless networks, or any combination thereof. Examples ofclients 220 that may be used may include a desktop computer, a laptopcomputer, a hand held computer, a terminal, a television, a televisionset top box, a cellular phone, a wireless phone, a wireless hand helddevice, an Internet access device, a rich client, thin client, or anyother client functional with a client/server computing architecture.

Servers 210 and clients 220 may be communicatively coupled to thenetwork 200 via any method of network connection known in the art ordeveloped in the future including, but not limited to wired, wireless,modem, dial-up, satellite, cable modem, Digital Subscriber Line (DSL),Asymmetric Digital Subscribers Line (ASDL), Virtual Private Network(VPN), Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN), X.25, Ethernet, tokenring, Fiber Distributed Data Interface (FDDI), IP over AsynchronousTransfer Mode (ATM), Infrared Data Association (IrDA), wireless, WANtechnologies (T1, Frame Relay), Point-to-Point Protocol over Ethernet(PPPoE), and/or any combination thereof.

A domain name may be registered to a registrant (perhaps by one of theabove-described servers) by any domain name registration method known inthe art or developed in the future, perhaps via a website-enabled domainname purchase and registration system, such as that described in detailabove. Alternatively, domain name registration may be accomplished viahuman to human communication, perhaps via a telephone call or in-personmeeting. Domain names may be registered by, as non-limiting examples,any individual or entity including, but not limited to a domain nameregistry, domain name registrar, hosting provider, and/or softwareapplication developer or distributor. The registrant may comprise, as anon-limiting example, any individual or entity including, but notlimited to, a person, a business, a governmental institution, aneducational institution, a non-profit organization, or a socialorganization.

The illustrated embodiments place no limitation on the format the domainname may take. While future iterations of the DNS may establishalternate domain name formats (perhaps using different alphanumericstructures or file types such as image, audio, or video filesfunctioning as a domain name or a similarly-functioning resourcelocator), which are explicitly contemplated by this patent application,the traditional domain name structure comprises a root name (i.e.,“mycompany” in the domain name mycompany.com) concatenated to atop-level domain (i.e., “.com” in the domain name mycompany.com).

The hosted website may be associated with a domain name as described indetail above. In a non-limiting example embodiment, a domain nameregistrar which provides domain name services may also provide hostingservices for the hosted website including, but not limited to hostingone or more computers or servers in a data center 230 as well asproviding the general infrastructure necessary to offer hosting servicesto Internet users including hardware, software, Internet web sites,hosting servers, and electronic communication means necessary to connectmultiple computers and/or servers to the Internet or any other network200.

A social networking data center 240 may likewise host the informationneeded for administration of a social networking website, including thegeneral hosting infrastructure described above. Such a social networkingdata center 240 may accept messages from text messages, SMS, web, mobileweb, instant message, third party API projects or other third partyapplications.

In a non-limiting embodiment, the hosted website may be a parked domainpage, possibly used for parked domain monetization. A parked domain pagemay refer to registering an internet domain name without associating thedomain name with any services such as email or a hosted website. Thismay be done to reserve the website for future development, and mayinclude a single “coming soon” or “under construction” hosted webpage.

The hosted website may also be used by the domain name registrant,registrar or any advertising publishers for parked domain monetization,as its own hosted website or while the hosted website is beingcompleted. Parked domain monetization, such as GODADDY.COM'S CASHPARKING, may use a domain name which resolves to a hosted websitecontaining advertising listings and links. The parked domain page mayuse a “pay-per-click” model, so that the domain holder may be paid basedon how many links have been visited and how successful those visits havebeen.

If a domain name registrant chooses an option on the control panel toimmediately generate traffic, via the published link, for the parkeddomain page (illustrated in FIG. 4 and described in detail below), ametric, such as a pay-per-click model or click-through traffic based on301 redirects, described below, or any other metric for measuringadditional traffic may be monitored to gauge the success of the parkeddomain page. A registrant may have the option of keeping the domain aparked domain page to generate traffic and revenue, or may keep thedomain a parked page only prior to completion of the final hostedwebsite.

As described above, a social website application may be hosted in asocial networking data center 240, which may comprise social networkingservices that focus on building and verifying online social networks forcommunities of people who may share interests and activities, wish tocommunicate with each other efficiently and may be interested inexploring the interests and activities of others, which necessitates theuse of software applications. These applications may include “widgets”which may be a portable chunk of code which can be incorporated into aweb page without requiring recompiling the code. There is a significantviral effect to social networking website applications, since socialnetworking updates may be posted to websites, blogs, widgets, othersocial networking websites and profiles, or shared through text messagesor other third party applications.

A social networking website application may implement one, some, or allof the above-described software applications and may use a commonusername or screen name for some or all communications transmitted viathe social website application. FACEBOOK, MYSPACE, and LINKEDIN are afew well-known examples of social website applications. FACEBOOK, forexample, allows users to register a screen name (i.e., “Facebookusername”) that may be associated with some or all FACEBOOK contentand/or communications. The screen name and a password may be used bysome social networking website users to access their information storedon the social networking website.

FIG. 3 shows an example user interface for a social networking website.This interface may be displayed, as shown, on a client 220 using thestructure disclosed herein, and may be used in disclosed embodiments todemonstrate the published announcement of a registered domain name and alink to a hosted website associated with the registered domain name.

The non-limiting illustrated example of a user interface for such asocial networking website shown in FIG. 3 illustrates a “company page”for a domain name registrar. Such a company page may be used forpublishing the registrar's general announcements, updates, FAQs,announcements of registered domain names, links to associated hostedwebsites etc. In this way, any contacts, “friends” or “followers” maystay informed about the company through information published on theirsocial networking page. In this context, users of the social networkingwebsite can become “friends” with one another, or simply be a “follower”of another social networking website user.

In another embodiment, the announcement of a registered domain name, orlinks to any associated hosted website may be published on aregistrant's “personal page,” used for the registrant's personalupdates. Such updates may include the purchase of the domain name fromthe domain name registrar, and any link to an associated hosted website.

Another embodiment may allow the domain name registrar to publish theannouncement of the registered domain name and the link to the hostedwebsite on both the domain name registrar's company page and the domainname registrant's personal page. To accomplish this, the domain nameregistrant may provide the domain name registrar with a user name orscreen name and/or a password via a control panel illustrated in FIG. 4and described in detail below.

In the non-limiting example in FIG. 3, the company site is used forpublished updates relating to Go Daddy Domains. In this example, aregistrant has purchased the domain name “financialcrisis.com.” Anannouncement of the domain name purchase by the registrant from theregistrar is included, and the published update concludes with a link tothe website “http://www.financialcrisis.com.” Contacts with the companyor the individual (including “friends” or “followers”) on the socialnetworking website, such as gduser and gduser2 (or other contactsillustrated in the “Contacts” section) in this example, may see andfollow the updates on either the illustrated company page for the domainname registrar, a personal page for the registrant that registeredfinancialcrisis.com, or both.

The link at the conclusion of the announcement may allow contacts toclick-through to the newly created hosted website“http://www.financialcrisis.com,” thereby creating traffic to the hostedwebsite for the newly registered domain name, and this click-throughtraffic may be monitored to determine the success of the associatedwebsite. This website may be either a newly created website or a parkeddomain page as described above.

In the non-limiting example interface seen in FIG. 4, a control panelfor a registered domain name and a hosted website may be displayed on aclient machine 220 to a domain name registrant. The control panel may bea computer user interface which utilizes a control panel metaphor toallow the user control of software and hardware features. The userinterfaces may be any aggregate of means by which users such as thedomain name registrar or domain name registrant interact with thesystem, including a particular machine, device, computer program orother complex tools.

The control panel may comprise means of obtaining permission to publishthe announcement of the newly registered domain name, and link to anassociated hosted website, and may also include means for setting adelay period after which to publish the announcement and link. In thenon-limiting example interface in FIG. 4, this may be accomplished bydrop down menus, text boxes, one or more check boxes or any other userinterface tools known to collect user information.

As previously mentioned, the control panel may also include an option topublish the announcement and link on both a company page for the domainname registrar and a personal page for the domain name registrant if theregistrant provides a username/screen name (and password, as necessary)for accessing their social networking account. In this exampleembodiment, checkboxes on the control panel may be used to determine ifthe announcement and link will be published on the registrant's companypage, the registrant's personal page, or both.

If the registrant chooses to create a parked domain page for theregistered domain name, the control panel may also allow the registrantto immediately generate traffic, via the link to the hosted website forthe parked domain page. The monitored metric, which may includepay-per-click, click-throughs, 301 redirects (described below) or anyother metric known in the art for monitoring traffic may be used togauge the success of the parked domain page or hosted website.

In another embodiment, the registrant may have prepared all necessaryfiles or other documentation for publishing the website immediately. Inthis case, another option may be provided in which the registrant maychoose to have no delay period, which would allow the website,announcement and link to be published immediately. This embodiment maylikewise use click-throughs, 301 redirects (described below) or anyother metric known in the art for monitoring traffic to gauge thesuccess of the published hosted website.

In the non-limiting example embodiment illustrated in FIG. 4, the meansfor obtaining permission may include a fee charged to the registrant(here a $20 fee) for publishing the announcement and the link.

As seen in FIG. 4, the control panel may provide access to anApplications Programming Interface (API), perhaps accessible via thenetwork. In another embodiment, the information collected in the controlpanel may be passed to the API via any other means known in the art. Alldisclosed embodiments allow the control panel to be synchronized withthe API. In the illustrated example, the user may choose to synchronizeall information gathered in the control panel with the API, or may clickon an included link to access the API separately, possibly by viewingthe API in a separate window or browser.

An API may be a software-to-software interface that specifies theprotocol defining how independent computer programs interact orcommunicate with each other. The API may allow a requesting party'ssoftware to communicate and interact with the software applicationand/or its provider—perhaps over a network—through a series of functioncalls (requests for services). It may comprise an interface provided bythe software application and/or its provider to support function callsmade of the software application by other computer programs, perhapsthose utilized by the requesting party to provide information forpublishing or posting domain name and hosted website information.

The API may comprise any API type known in the art or developed in thefuture including, but not limited to, request-style, Berkeley Sockets,Transport Layer Interface (TLI), Representational State Transfer (REST),SOAP, Remote Procedure Calls (RPC), Standard Query Language (SQL), filetransfer, message delivery, and/or any combination thereof.

FIG. 4 also shows that the control panel may include an option topurchase a product to increase traffic to the hosted website, therebyincreasing the monitored metric for traffic generated by the link to thehosted website. Examples of such products may include GO DADDY'S TRAFFICBLAZER or BUSINESS REGISTRATION. In one embodiment, the productrecommended may be suggested based on the results of the monitoredmetric for traffic generated by the link to the hosted website. Otherembodiments may allow the user to immediately order such products bydisplaying such traffic-improving products in a new window so that theuser may purchase these products immediately.

Prior to publishing the announcement and link, the registrant maychoose, via the control panel, to receive notice of expiration of thedelay period and/or notice that the announcement and link will bepublished on the social networking website. Such notice may comprise anyelectronic response received (perhaps at a server computer responsive toa request sent in kind) including, but not limited to, a Hyper TextTransfer Protocol (HTTP) request, email message, and/or Short MessageService (SMS) message (i.e., text message). Notice also may be receivedvia paper mail, telephone conversation, person to person contact, or anyother means for receiving delay period expiration notice known in theart or developed in the future.

In another embodiment, the registrant may publish, during the delayperiod, announcements of updates or new developments to the site on hisor her personal page on the social networking website. On completion ofthe website, the announcement and link may be published on the companypage, the personal page or both. In the illustrated embodiment, acheckbox may be selected which allows the registrant to announce andpublish new website developments to the registrant's personal page.

In another embodiment, information may be gathered about the hostedwebsite to determine the readiness for publishing the announcement andlink. For example, if the original page consists of only a “coming soon”or “under construction” page, changes in the amount of web pagesincluded in the hosted website may trigger an announcement and link tobe published, or at least a status update on the registrant's personalpage.

Likewise, a sharp rise in traffic to the site may also indicate to thesystem that the announcement and link should be published. By “pinging”the website in these ways, the system may be at least partiallyautomatic in determining if the announcement of the domain name and linkto the associated website should be published. Alternatively, contactinformation collected from the registrant or user (described below) mayalso be used to confirm that the announcement and link are ready to bepublished.

The monitored metric for traffic generated by the link to the hostedwebsite may be accomplished via a domain name registrar or host of thehosted website linking to the registered domain name using a server-sideor other 301 redirect. The registrar or host may choose to link to thedomains via 301 redirect to allow them to count click-throughs. Theseclick-throughs may be used as a means to gauge the success of the linkas reflected in the monitored metric of traffic to the site via thelink. These metrics may be used to gauge the success of theannouncement/link and recommend a product to the user, based on thesuccess of the distribution of the announcement/link.

A 301 redirect may be a method for webpage redirection (ofteninterpreted as “moved permanently”) while preserving search enginerankings for that particular page. It may be effective in the context ofthe current invention in that if file names change or pages are moved,the search engine rankings may be preserved between old pages and newpages. Use of such redirects may give the website host and/or domainname registrar information on the success of the distribution of thehosted website via the link from the social networking website.

As an example, after a web page is requested, a web server may use an.htaccess file which contains specific instructions for certainrequests, including security, redirection issues and how to handlecertain errors. The old page and the page to be redirected to may beedited in such a file with the command “redirect 301 /old/old.htmhttp://www.you.com/new.htm,” where old/old.htm is a top-down link to theold page. Any other known form of using a 301 redirect in the art mayalso be used to accomplish monitoring website traffic from the link.

The hosted website may also be accessed through several different URLs.If URLs are used to reach the homepage, one of those URLs may be used asthe preferred (canonical) destination and 301 redirects may be used tosend traffic from the other URLs to the preferred URL.

As seen in FIG. 4, the user of the control panel may elect to have theresults of the monitored metric to measure traffic sent to them so thatthey may know the success of the website or parked domain page. Productsuggestions may be made to the user of the control panel based on theresults of the monitored metric. In other embodiments, the suggestedproducts may be offered as an add-on to another offered product, or maybe bundled together with other products.

Methods for Posting an Announcement and Link on a Social Website

Several different methods may be used to provide and manage thedisclosed invention. In an example embodiment illustrated in FIG. 5, apartnership may be established with a social networking website to posta search engine result to a feed from the social networking website, thefeed including an announcement of a registered domain name and a link toa hosted website. (Step 500) The hosted website may be associated withthe registered domain name.

A control panel may be displayed on a client (Step 510), which mayinclude means for obtaining permission to post the search engine resultto a feed from a social networking site including the domain nameannouncement and link. The control panel may also include means to set adelay period after which to post the search engine result to the feedincluding the announcement and link. After the expiration of the delayperiod, the announcement and link may be posted as a search engineresult (Step 520). Traffic generated by the announcement and/or link tothe hosted website may be monitored (Step 130) and a product may berecommended for increasing the metric which measures traffic generatedto the hosted website (Step 140). A system and/or structure using theelements illustrated in FIGS. 2-4 and described in detail above may beused to accomplish the methods and embodiments associated with theembodiments illustrated in FIGS. 5-7.

FIG. 6 shows an example user interface for posting a feed for a searchresult from a social networking website, including an announcement of aregistered domain name and a link to a related hosted website. Thisinterface may be displayed as shown on a client 220 using the structuredisclosed herein, and may be used in disclosed embodiments todemonstrate the search result posted to a feed including theannouncement of a registered domain name and a link to a hosted websiteassociated with the registered domain name.

The non-limiting illustrated example of a user interface for such asocial networking website shown in FIG. 6 illustrates a search resultfor the phrase “financial crisis” on a social networking website. Inthis example, a registrant has purchased the domain name“financialcrisis.com.” An announcement of the domain name purchase bythe registrant from the registrar is included in the search results, andthe announcement includes a link to the website“http://www.financialcrisis.com.” These search results for this querymay be posted to a blog, a website, a social networking website widgetor to a profile for another social networking website.

The link at the conclusion of the announcement may allow contacts toclick-through to the newly created hosted website“http://www.financialcrisis.com,” thereby creating traffic to the hostedwebsite for the newly registered domain name. This website may be eithera newly created website or a parked domain page as described above.Likewise, users of the social networking website (such as gduser andgduser2 in this example) may find the announcement to the registereddomain name and link to the related hosted website through any relevantsearches on the social networking website or through RSS feeds onvarious blogs, websites, widgets, other social networking websites, etc.

The feeds generated may conform to the Really Simple Syndication (RSS)specification. RSS is a Web content syndication format and may be adialect of Extensible Markup Language (XML).

In the non-limiting example interface seen in FIG. 7, a control panelfor a registered domain name and a hosted website may be displayed on aclient machine 220 to a domain name registrant according to the detaileddescription of such a control panel given above.

The control panel may comprise means of obtaining permission to post theannouncement and link as feeds of search engine results and means forsetting a delay period after which to post the feed of search engineresults including the announcement and link. If the registrant choosesto create a parked domain page for the registered domain name, thecontrol panel may also allow the registrant to immediately generatetraffic, via the link to the hosted website for the parked domain page.The monitored metric, which may include pay-per-click, click-throughs,301 redirects or any other metric known in the art for monitoringtraffic may be used to gauge the success of the parked domain page orhosted website.

In another embodiment, the registrant may have prepared all necessaryfiles for posting the announcement and link to the website immediately.In this case, another option may be provided in which the registrant maychoose to have no delay period, which would allow the website,announcement and link to be posted immediately. This embodiment maylikewise use click-throughs, 301 redirects or any other metric known inthe art for monitoring traffic to gauge the success of the publishedhosted website.

In the non-limiting example embodiment illustrated in FIG. 7, the meansfor obtaining permission may include a fee charged to the registrant(here a $20 fee) for posting the announcement and the link.

As seen in FIG. 7, the control panel may provide access to anApplications Programming Interface (API), perhaps accessible via thenetwork. In another embodiment, the information collected in the controlpanel may be passed to the API via other means, including meansdescribed in the detailed description of an API given above. In theillustrated example, the user may choose to synchronize all informationgathered in the control panel with the API, or may click on an includedlink to access the API separately, possibly by viewing the API in aseparate window or browser. Using this API, the social networkingwebsite user may be able to associate key words with the link, therebyallowing the user to have the announcement and link shown in anysearches that use the associated keywords.

FIG. 7 also shows that the control panel may include an option topurchase a product to increase traffic to the hosted website, therebyincreasing the monitored metric for traffic generated by the link to thehosted website. In one embodiment, the product recommended may besuggested based on the results of the monitored metric for trafficgenerated by the link to the hosted website.

Prior to posting the announcement and link, the registrant may choose,via the control panel, to receive notice of expiration of the delayperiod and/or notice that the announcement and link will be posted onthe social networking website, according to the means of providingnotice described in detail above.

In another embodiment, information may be gathered about the website tobe posted as a search engine result to determine the readiness forposting the announcement and link as described in detail above.

The monitored metric for traffic generated by the link to the hostedwebsite may be accomplished via a domain name registrar or host of thehosted website linking to the registered domain name using a 301redirect, as described in detail above. The registrar or host may chooseto link to the domains via 301 redirect to allow them to countclick-throughs. These click-throughs may be used as a means to gauge thesuccess of the link as reflected in the monitored metric of traffic tothe site via the link. These metrics may be used to gauge the success ofthe announcement/link and recommend a product to the user, based on thesuccess of the distribution of the announcement/link.

As seen in FIG. 7, the user of the control panel may elect to have theresults of the monitored metric to measure traffic sent to them so thatthey may know the success of the website or parked domain page. Productsuggestions may be made to the user of the control panel based on theresults of the monitored metric. In other embodiments, the suggestedproducts may be offered as an add-on to another offered product, or maybe bundled together with other products.

Other embodiments and uses of the above inventions will be apparent tothose having ordinary skill in the art upon consideration of thespecification and practice of the invention disclosed herein. Thespecification and examples given should be considered exemplary only,and it is contemplated that the appended claims will cover any othersuch embodiments or modifications as fall within the true scope of theinvention.

The Abstract accompanying this specification is provided to enable theUnited States Patent and Trademark Office and the public generally todetermine quickly from a cursory inspection the nature and gist of thetechnical disclosure and in no way intended for defining, determining,or limiting the present invention or any of its embodiments.

1. A method, comprising: A) receiving from a client computercommunicatively coupled to a network, by one or more server computerscommunicatively coupled to said network: i) one or more authenticationcredentials, for a registrant of a domain name, for accessing an accounton a social networking website; and ii) a delay period after which topublish, on a web page for said account, a domain name announcementcomprising: a) an announcement of a registration of said domain name;and b) a hyperlink to a website resolving from said domain name; and B)responsive to an expiration of said delay period: i) authenticating tosaid account, by said one or more server computers and using said one ormore authentication credentials, via a social networking applicationprogramming interface; and ii) publishing, by said one or more servercomputers, said domain name announcement to said web page for saidaccount via said social networking application programming interface. 2.The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of detecting, by saidone or more server computers: i) a plurality of general website trafficto said website; ii) a plurality of website traffic generated by saidhyperlink; iii) a plurality of pay-per-click or click-through trafficgenerated by one or more server redirects from said hyperlink; and iv)one or more changes to an amount of web pages in said website.
 3. Themethod of claim 2, further comprising the steps of: i) responsive to adetected change to said amount of web pages in said website,automatically publishing to said web page, by said one or more servercomputers during said delay period and via said social networkingapplication programming interface, one or more announcements of one ormore website updates or developments; and ii) responsive to a detectedincrease in said website traffic generated by said hyperlink,automatically publishing to said web page, by said one or more servercomputers and via said social networking application programminginterface, said domain name announcement.
 4. The method of claim 1,further comprising the step of receiving from a control panel on saidclient computer, by said one or more server computers, a plurality ofcontrol panel data used by said one or more server computers to: i)manage one or more domain names, including said domain name, and one ormore hosted websites; ii) grant permission to publish said domain nameannouncement; iii) access and configure said social networkingapplication programming interface; iv) detect one or more selections bysaid registrant to: a) immediately generate traffic for a parked webpage via said hyperlink; and b) immediately publish one or more websitecontent files for said website and publish, on said web page for saidaccount, an announcement of a finished hosted website; v) notify saidregistrant of said expiration of said delay period; and vi) notify saidregistrant, prior to said domain name announcement being published, thatsaid domain name announcement will be published.
 5. The method of claim4, wherein said social networking application programming interfacecomprises a software interface provided by said social networkingwebsite to support function calls or requests for one or more servicesmade of said social networking website by one or more computer programson said one or more server computers.
 6. The method of claim 1, whereinsaid social networking website comprises any combination of: i) one ormore social networking software applications; and ii) one or morewidgets, each of said one or more widgets comprising a portable softwarecode incorporated into one or more web pages without recompiling saidportable software code.
 7. The method of claim 1 further comprising thestep of publishing, after said expiration of said delay period, saiddomain name announcement on a registrar web page for a registrar accounton said social networking website.
 8. The method of claim 1, whereinsaid website comprises a single web page configured to: i) resolve fromsaid domain name; ii) display one or more advertising listings andlinks; iii) record a payment due to said registrant based on how many ofsaid one or more advertising listings and links have been clicked; andiv) announce, via a content on said single web page, that said websiteis not yet completed.
 9. The method of claim 1, further comprising thestep of transmitting to said client computer, by said one or more servercomputers, a web content comprising one or more products recommended toincrease, via said hyperlink, a monitored metric for traffic to saidwebsite.
 10. A method, comprising: A) receiving from a client computercommunicatively coupled to a network, by one or more server computerscommunicatively coupled to said network: i) one or more authenticationcredentials, for a registrant of a domain name, for accessing an accounton a social networking website; and ii) a delay period after which tomake a domain name announcement available from a search engine feed forsaid account, said domain name announcement comprising: a) anannouncement of a registration of said domain name; and b) a hyperlinkto a website resolving from said domain name; and B) responsive to anexpiration of said delay period: i) authenticating to said account, bysaid one or more server computers and using said one or moreauthentication credentials, via a social networking applicationprogramming interface; and ii) publishing, by said one or more servercomputers, said domain name announcement to said search engine feed forsaid account via said social networking application programminginterface.
 11. The method of claim 10, further comprising the step ofdetecting, by said one or more server computers: i) a plurality ofgeneral website traffic to said website; ii) a plurality of websitetraffic generated by said hyperlink; iii) a plurality of pay-per-clickor click-through traffic generated by one or more server redirects fromsaid hyperlink; and iv) one or more changes to an amount of web pages insaid website.
 12. The method of claim 11, further comprising the stepsof: i) responsive to a detected change to said amount of web pages insaid website, automatically publishing to said search engine feed forsaid account, by said one or more server computers during said delayperiod and via said social networking application programming interface,one or more announcements of one or more website updates ordevelopments; and ii) responsive to a detected increase in said websitetraffic generated by said hyperlink, automatically publishing to saidsearch engine feed for said account, by said one or more servercomputers and via said social networking application programminginterface, said domain name announcement.
 13. The method of claim 10,further comprising the step of receiving from a control panel on saidclient computer, by said one or more server computers, a plurality ofcontrol panel data used by said one or more server computers to: i)manage one or more domain names, including said domain name, and one ormore hosted websites; ii) grant permission to publish said domain nameannouncement; iii) accessing and configure said social networkingapplication programming interface; iv) detect one or more selections bysaid registrant to: a) immediately generate traffic for a parked webpage via said hyperlink; and b) immediately publish one or more websitecontent files for said website and publish on said web page for saidaccount, an announcement of a finished hosted website; v) notify saidregistrant of said expiration of said delay period; and vi) notify saidregistrant, prior to said domain name announcement being published, thatsaid domain name announcement will be published.
 14. The method of claim13, wherein said social networking application programming interfacecomprises a software interface provided by said social networkingwebsite to support function calls or requests for one or more servicesmade of said social networking website by one or more computer programson said one or more server computers.
 15. The method of claim 10,wherein said social networking website comprises any combination of: i)one or more social networking software applications; ii) one or morewidgets, each of said one or more widgets comprising a portable softwarecode incorporated into one or more web pages without recompiling saidportable software code.
 16. The method of claim 10 further comprisingthe step of publishing, after said expiration of said delay period, saiddomain name announcement on a registrar web page for a registrar accounton said social networking website.
 17. The method of claim 10, whereinsaid website comprises a single web page configured to: i) resolve fromsaid domain name; ii) display one or more advertising listings andlinks; iii) record a payment die to said registrant based on how many ofsaid one or more advertising listings and links have been clicked; andiv) announce, via a content on said single web page, that said websiteis not yet completed.
 18. The method of claim 10, further comprising thestep of transmitting to said client computer, by said one or more servercomputers, a web content comprising one or more produces recommended toincrease, via said hyperlink, a monitored metric for traffic to said website.